Which CPU Cooler/Heatsink Fan for i5-8600K

.Lethal · 10 Sep 2018 at 12:40

I'm pretty much decided on the following upgrade in the next few days

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO
CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB PRO 16GB (2X8GB) 3200MHZ
CORE I5-8600K 3.6GHZ (COFFEE LAKE)

However, I can't decide on a heatsink and fan for this build and whilst a few factors come in such as looks/performance/cost I'm really not sure where to go.

Budget isn't too big of an issue as they aren't too expensive, I'm not water cooling or doing anything fancy with it however I'm trying to find something that looks great with solid performance, maybe something black as the board and ram are also black.

Case is: Corsair Carbide 540 (Mid-Tower)

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks

doyll · 10 Sep 2018 at 14:08

Without some ideas of what coolers you think you might like it's hard to make suggestions.

I use bigger coolers because they usually cool better and are quieter. It's a case of bigger is usualy better.

I was going to suggest Phanteks PH-TC14PE for £49.99 but that special is over and they are back to normal £59.99 .. which is still a good price for how well it cools and how quiet it is. It cools similar to D15S, D15, and other big twin-tower coolers. It will fit on your motherboard and clear PCie sockets but your Vengeance RGB RAM is something like 51mm tall and that is very tall. 540 case has 170mm CPU clearance which is 178mm from motherboard to case, but 51mm tall ram is seats 3mm above motherboard so is 178mm - 53mm = 127mm of room for fan over RAM. You would need to mount fans as pull / pull instead of push / push on cooler and then it should fit no problems. Using fans as pull / pull does not change performance or noise more than a degree / dB or two at most.

You may have problems with 540 case airflow. Best way to figure it out is to monitor case airflow into CPU cooler and/or GPU cooler with system at full load to find out if that air is less then 5c above room air temp. 2-3c warmer is about as good as it can be. I can't remember if your motherboard has temp sensors or not, but if it does not a low cost way of doing it little digital indoor/outdoor thermometer for auction or river websites. In case you are interested below is link to basic guide to how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow. Case use is normal tower case and your 540 is while a little different should respond to same basic setup.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

Gimpymoo · 10 Sep 2018 at 14:24

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nh-d15s-dual-radiator-quiet-cpu-cooler-hs-031-nc.html

The Rolls Royce of Air CPU coolers.

Not black though but they are seriously good fans and the mounting is stupdly easy compared to others.

.Lethal · 10 Sep 2018 at 14:37

doyll said:
Without some ideas of what coolers you think you might like it's hard to make suggestions.

I use bigger coolers because they usually cool better and are quieter. It's a case of bigger is usualy better. I was going to suggest Phanteks PH-TC14PE for £49.99 but that special is over and they are back to normal £59.99 .. which is still a good price for how well it cools and how quiet it is. It cools similar to D15S, D15, and other big twin-tower coolers. It will fit on your motherboard and clear PCie sockets but your Vengeance RGB RAM is something like 51mm tall and that is very tall. 540 case has 170mm CPU clearance which is 178mm from motherboard to case, but 51mm tall ram is seats 3mm above motherboard so is 178mm - 53mm = 127mm of room for fan over RAM. You would need to mount fans as pull / pull instead of push / push on cooler and then it should fit no problems. Using fans as pull / pull does not change performance or noise more than a degree / dB or two at most.

You may have problems with 540 case airflow. Best way to figure it out is to monitor case airflow into CPU cooler and/or GPU cooler with system at full load to find out if that air is less then 5c above room air temp. 2-3c warmer is about as good as it can be. I can't remember if your motherboard has temp sensors or not, but if it does not a low cost way of doing it little digital indoor/outdoor thermometer for auction or river websites. In case you are interested below is link to basic guide to how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow. Case use is normal tower case and your 540 is while a little different should respond to same basic setup.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

Very informative, thank you for taking the time to consider the measurements!

I made a number of edits as I was going through the thought process of what size/type of Cooler. It comes down to a single fan and radiator/heatsink especially since I'm not looking to overclock for the time being.

Using a double fan/heatsink would also reduce the rgb effect from the ram as you touched on which I wouldn't like to do.

I did look at low profile/top flow cpu coolers as I'd never even heard of them until today but I think they would also block viability with the large fans being sideways across the mobo.

So to answer the main question I'd say single fan and cooler, since my original post I quite like the Dark Rock 4 at the time of posting.

Thanks

Gimpymoo said:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nh-d15s-dual-radiator-quiet-cpu-cooler-hs-031-nc.html

The Rolls Royce of Air CPU coolers.

Not black though but they are seriously good fans and the mounting is stupdly easy compared to others.

I've been looking at reviews and youtube videos for a few hours and that brand always comes up, I just really hate the colours on it which is a shame because other than that I'd seriously be considering them.

EsaT · 10 Sep 2018 at 14:56

For Cryorig H7 would be very good for its price.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cryorig-h7-single-tower-heatsink-with-120mm-fan-hs-008-cy.html

Then Scythe Mugen 5 is likely the strongest DIMM/PCI-e slot clearance free cooler challenging many bigger and lot more expensive coolers in cooling per noise.
Including that NH-D15S fair 20 heatsinks downward:
https://www.nikktech.com/main/artic...he-mugen-5-cpu-cooler-review?showall=&start=5
Just missing that black colour, though with its price you could afford can of spray to put on top fin/plate.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-scmg-5100-mugen-5-cpu-cooler-hs-046-sy.html

doyll · 10 Sep 2018 at 15:13

.Lethal said:
Very informative, thank you for taking the time to consider the measurements!

I made a number of edits as I was going through the thought process of what size/type of Cooler. It comes down to a single fan and radiator/heatsink especially since I'm not looking to overclock for the time being.

Using a double fan/heatsink would also reduce the rgb effect from the ram as you touched on which I wouldn't like to do.

I did look at low profile/top flow cpu coolers as I'd never even heard of them until today but I think they would also block viability with the large fans being sideways across the mobo.

So to answer the main question I'd say single fan and cooler, since my original post I quite like the Dark Rock 4 at the time of posting.

Thanks

I do not advice getting AIO/CLC. They are more money for less or similar performance usually with more noise and are much less dependable. They are a loose/loose product.

The Top down coolers biggest problem is keeping cool intake air and heated exhaust air separated. They blow air down through cooler to motherboard where it turns out hitting RAM, GPU etc and turns back up along side of cooler and it's fan where it gets drawn back into cooler .. and every degree warmer the air into cooler is pretty much a degree hotter CPU is. Tower coolers draw air in from front where intake fans are and exhaust it out back toward rear exhaust vent.

You could use PH-TC14PE with middle fan and it will only be a couple degrees warmer than with 2 fans. Same as NH-D15 vs NH-D15S. Although D15S has offset base it has same cooling ability as D15, but with only a middle fan is degree or 2 warmer.

The Cryorig R1 Universal will fit with fan between RAM and cooler.

.Lethal said:
I've been looking at reviews and youtube videos for a few hours and that brand always comes up, I just really hate the colours on it which is a shame because other than that I'd seriously be considering them.

Noctua are very good, but they are not much if any better than Phanteks, Cryorig, Thermalright and other top tier cooler companies .. but they do cost more and their customer support is extremely good .. but so is Phanteks, Cryorig and Thermalright support.

PH-TC14PE £58.99 (fans in pull / pull or only middle fan like D15S)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-ph-tc14pe-cpu-cooler-black-hs-009-pt.html

Cryorig R1 Universal £72.95
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cryo...-heatsink-with-140mm-fan-white-hs-004-cy.html

NH-D15S £74.95
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nh-d15s-dual-radiator-quiet-cpu-cooler-hs-031-nc.html

NH-D15 £84.95 (but 2 fans means pull / pull or only middle fan like D15S)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noct...pu-cooler-with-two-nh-a15-fans-hs-026-nc.html

NH-U14S £62.99 (not as good as PH-TC14PE or others listed)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noct...lim-cpu-cooler-with-nf-a15-fan-hs-000-nd.html

Others to consider with easily as good or better performance are:
Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Power with more wattage of cooling than any above because it has 6x 8mm heapipes.
Thermalright Le Grand Macho RT with better cooling and lower temps than even D15S or D15 have, but it's huge.